Democratic Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York has said that former president Donald Trump’s arraignment is just “one step towards accountability.”
The progressive Democratic member of the Squad - which includes Representatives Cori Bush of Missouri, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and fellow New Yorker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - spoke to The Independent in Manhattan shortly before the former president’s arraignment.
Mr Trump surrendered to be arraigned in Manhattan after a grand jury assembled by New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg voted to indict the former president for his role in allegedly paying adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about a supposed sexual liaison ahead of the 2016 election.
Plenty of Mr Trump’s supporters, including right-wing Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, convened in Manhattan to support him ahead of the arraignment. But Mr Bowman said he didn’t realise he was near the supporters when he spoke with The Independent.
“I'm just here to push back against anything that represents hate in New York City,” he said. “ Anything that represents white supremacy in New York City, and allies and the rhetoric and the divisiveness that Trump, that Marjorie Taylor Greene and so many others have represented since they've been in public life.”
The New York Democrat, who is in his second term, said he wanted supporters of Mr Trump to know that the investigation wasn’t political and that Mr Trump fanned the flames when he announced last month on Truth Social that he would be indicted before any such decision was made.
“So this is about the justice system doing its job,” he said. “Trump made it political when he announced to the world that he is going to be indicted, and he called on people to protest, that made it political.”
Mr Bowman said it was too early to tell the entirety of what the indictment means as it remained under seal until the arraignment and the case has not yet begun.
“It means one step towards accountability,” he said. “This is just an indictment. We don't know. We're very far away from conviction. So we'll see where that goes. But you know, America needs a reckoning and I think Trump is essential to that reckoning, when you consider his rhetoric, his behavior and his policies.”
Mr Bowman noted how Mr Trump had bragged about sexually assaulting women and had targeted marginalised communities in the United States throughout his presidency.
“So he cannot represent us,” he said. “We have to step up as a people in this country to devise the country that we want.”
He also noted how Mr Trump faces an investigation from the Department of Justice for his handling of classified documents at his private estate in Mar-a-Lago and his attempt to steal the 2020 presidential election, including his actions on January 6. In addition, the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, is also investigating Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state.
